The school’s retreat center, Manresa, experienced historic flooding on Sunday, November 1, after heavy rainfall overwhelmed the property, flooding multiple areas and causing significant damage throughout the retreat facility.

Late afternoon on November 1st, rainfall and flooding in Oak Creek, Sedona, caused a historic flood, impacting the whole Oak Creek area, including Manresa. 

Oak Creek reached approximately 20,000 cubic feet per second during the flooding, nearly 100 times its typical flow of 200 CFS. The flooding also broke a stream gauge record that had stood since 1993.

The flooding caused major damage to many of the buildings on the site of Manresa.

The President of Brophy, Mr. Bob Ryan, stated, “I’m sorry to report that Manresa sustained significant damage last night. The lodge and Desmet had standing water, but thankfully, the chapel and other buildings avoided flooding and appeared undamaged,” said Mr. Ryan. 

The dangerous waters also caused Mr. Peter Powers, the caretaker of Manresa, to evacuate for his safety. 

Luckily, outside of Mr. Powers, nobody was at the site on the day of the floods.

“Most importantly, nobody is there this weekend, and so there is nobody at risk. Peter spent the day on site, doing what he could to prepare for the rising waters.  Unfortunately, the water rose to the level where it was no longer safe for him to remain, so he returned across the bridge to the residential neighborhood.  The water level is as high as we’ve ever seen it and the rain is expected to continue for several more hours,” said Mr. Ryan.

As for retreats at Manresa going forward, Mr. Gregory Abbott ’18 said, “Despite the flooding at Manresa, all retreats for the remainder of the school year will continue as scheduled.”

However, those retreats will not be at Manresa, but instead at a new location.

“We have found an alternative site that will be excellent for our retreats for the remainder of the year,” said Mr. Abbott.